


summertime sadness

by damedanbo



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: M/M, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2019-07-10
Packaged: 2020-06-26 02:35:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19758838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/damedanbo/pseuds/damedanbo
Summary: After the Cradle Affair, after Xanxus is frozen, after he cuts his hand off to understand... Squalo meets an apparition in the forest.





	summertime sadness

“Where the hell am I,” was the first thing Xanxus asked himself that morning when he woke up outside, on the ground. 

He pushed himself upright, looking at his surroundings. Come to think of it… he knew this place, didn’t he? It had been a long time since he’d come here, but he remembered it from before.

Xanxus stood, dusting himself off. He hadn’t seen this place in almost twenty years… although, since he’d spent eight of those years frozen, he supposed it was more like ten for him. 

A heavy mist settled over the woods in which he had awoken, blotting out the sun and darkening the morning light. He could probably still remember how to get back from here, but--

“Squalo! Where are you going?”

“Don’t fucking follow me!”

Familiar voices in the distance. Xanxus turned, looking in the direction he thought they’d come from. So that trash was here too. No doubt they’d dragged him out here while he was sleeping off last night’s drinks. For a joke, or what? They’d see who was laughing when he kicked all their pathetic asses.

“I said leave me alone!” Squalo hollered, from nearby. Xanxus turned again, mildly disoriented by the heavy mist, and watched as his second in command emerged from the woods. Except… When had Squalo cut his hair?

No, when had Squalo lost six inches in height?

_ No-- _ how long had it been since Squalo had cut his hand off?

Squalo, looking over his shoulder, hadn’t noticed the man yet, and so Xanxus had a few seconds to take in the changes first. Squalo’s hair just barely touched his shoulders, brushing against the sleek black leather of his Varia uniform. He was shorter than he had been the night before, when Xanxus had seen him last.

And the stump of his hand was bandaged in a bloody, dripping lump.

He finally turned towards Xanxus, and jumped, surprised to see another person in the woods. “Wha-- VOI!” he started up, regaining his footing and glaring at the strange older man. “Who the hell are you? What do you think you’re doing?”

Xanxus stared back at him. Squalo squirmed under his gaze, shifting from one foot to the other. How old was he? Sixteen,  _ maybe?  _ Younger? “What do you want,” Squalo snapped, trying to stare him down.

“You don’t recognize me,” Xanxus surmised.

Squalo’s eyes widened a bit at the sound of his voice. He took a step backwards, involuntarily, then rushed forward again. “VOI--I don’t know what kind of shitty trick this is, if it’s mist flames or what, but--”

“Squalo.”

He shut up right away. Like a dog, confused by its master’s new scent, he tilted his head, frowned, and circled around to Xanxus’ left.

Even a stupid dog would remember his voice.

“There’s no way,” Squalo murmured. “He--you’re--he’s frozen. And you’re so old!”

He could take offense to that later. Xanxus stepped forward, and young Squalo stumbled back again, maintaining the distance between them, until his back hit a tree and Xanxus rushed in, pushing him against it.

“I don’t know what I’m doing here either,” Xanxus admitted. “I’m sick of this time travelling bullshit. But for whatever reason, I’m here, and you--” he squeezed Squalo’s neck a bit, feeling the teen swallow hard under his hand-- ”should remember to whom your loyalties lie.”

“To Xanxus.”

“Right. And here I am.” He released the boy, and Squalo lifted his hand to rub at his throat--only to realize he had raised his bloodied stub, and there  _ was  _ no hand there to use.

“If you’re… If you’re Xanxus from the future, then what happens? In the future, I mean. Do I win against Tyr?”

“You do. You become the sword emperor.”

“And do you become the Vongola boss?”

“No.”

Squalo’s face fell. “But surely, if we could--”

“We lose,” Xanxus said firmly.

Squalo lowered his eyes. “So it’s all for nothing,” he murmured.

“Wrong again, trash,” Xanxus sneered, and Squalo lifted his head. He couldn’t believe he was saying this, but-- “There are things more important than becoming the Vongola decimo.”

“Like what,” Squalo snapped. “I--we--we all went to war for you. I chopped off my  _ hand  _ for you! I--” His face twisted into a pained scowl, and Squalo turned away.

“Trash.”

“Don’t talk to me.”

“Look at me.”

“No.”

Xanxus grabbed him by the hair and forcibly turned his head. Squalo fought him for every inch, but finally glared up at him.

“When you’re older, you’ll get it. Until then… stay by my side.”

Squalo’s eyes went wide and he flushed, pink from the tips of his ears to the end of his nose. He looked away, scowling again.

“Don’t say stuff like that.”

“You already promised, didn’t you? To stick with me until the end.”

“Idiot! Shut up, you bastard! You’re not even him!” He squinted and covered his eyes as light shone down from above, the sun finally starting to cut through the heavy mist. In the bright glow of sunlight, Xanxus smiled at him, and stepped away.

“You look cute like that, too. I’m glad I got to see it.”

And in an instant, he was gone.

Squalo slid down the tree to its base, landing with his legs sprawled out on the grass. When Lussuria and little Belphegor found him a while later, he appeared to have gone into shock--no doubt from chopping off his own hand.

“Poor, poor Squ-squ,” Lussuria sang, dragging him from the clearing. “Let’s get him fixed up, right Bel?”

“Kay,” Bel called, first grabbing off the ground a pretty red feather that had fallen there. He hurried after Lussuria and Squalo, waving the feather in the air as he went.

“VOI! YOU GONNA WAKE UP OR WHAT?” Xanxus’ door flew open, kicked in, and Squalo lowered his leg, blinking at his boss. “Oh, you’re already up. I thought you were still passed out.”

“And that’s how you greet someone who’s hungover?” Xanxus snapped, flinging a glass at his second in command. Squalo ducked, and the glass shattered on the wall behind him.

They squabbled and yelled. More things were thrown, and Squalo laughed, ducking every time. Eventually, Lussuria rushed in to put a stop to the madness, and shooed them both down the hall towards the meeting room.

“Hey, you’re missing a feather,” Squalo said, pointing at him. “Did it fall off?”

Xanxus reached his hand up to feel the clump of feathers hanging down by his face. “Huh. I guess.”

“It’s weird,” Squalo said, “but they’ve always kind of reminded me of something nostalgic. Stupid, right?”

Xanxus looked away. Telling him now would probably destroy the space-time continuum, or something. “No,” he said finally. “I get it.”

**Author's Note:**

> `___` I'd like to also write a fic about Squalo specifically after cutting his hand off but... this one isn't it!


End file.
